Anna Karenina — Chapter 3 in French
By Leo Tolstoy
Une fois habillé, Stépan Arkadiévitch se parfuma, d’un geste habituel tira ses manchettes, mit dans sa poche ses cigarettes, son portefeuille, ses allumettes, sa montre et sa chaîne double à breloques, déplia son mouchoir, et, se sentant propre, parfumé, bien portant et physiquement gai malgré son malheur, tout en traînant un peu les jambes passa dans la salle à manger où l’attendaient, à côté de son café, les lettres et les papiers du ministère. Having dressed, Stepan Arkadyevitch sprinkled himself with perfume, straightened the sleeves of his shirt, according to his usual routine put into his various pockets cigarettes, his letter-case, matches, his watch with its double chain and locket, and, shaking out his handkerchief, feeling clean, well-perfumed, healthy, and physically happy in spite of his unhappiness, went out somewhat unsteadily to the dining-room, where his coffee was already waiting for him, and next the coffee his letters and the papers from the court-house.
Il lut ses lettres. He read his letters. Il lut les lettres : L’une d’elles, fort désagréable, était d’un marchand qui voulait acheter la forêt et le domaine de sa femme. One was very disagreeable,—from a merchant who was negotiating for the purchase of a forest on his wife's estate. Il était nécessaire de vendre, mais, avant sa réconciliation avec sa femme, il n’y pouvait plus penser, et le plus désagréable c’était qu’un intérêt d’argent se mêlât à cette réconciliation. It was necessary to sell this forest, but now nothing could be done about it until a reconciliation was effected with his wife. Et le plus désagréable c'était qu'un intérêt d'argent se mêlât à cette réconciliation. Most unpleasant it was to think that his pecuniary interests in this approaching transaction were complicated with his reconciliation to his wife. La pensée qu’il pouvait être incité à se réconcilier avec sa femme par une question d’argent, le blessait. And the thought that he might be influenced by this interest, that his desire for a reconciliation with his wife was on account of the sale of the forest, this thought mortified him.
Après avoir lu les lettres, Stépan Arkadiévitch rapprocha de lui les papiers du ministère, feuilleta rapidement deux dossiers, écrivit au crayon quelques notes et, repoussant les dossiers, prit son café. Having finished his letters Stepan Arkadyevitch took up the papers from the court-house, rapidly turned over the leaves of two deeds, made several notes with a big pencil, and then pushing them away, took his coffee. Tout en buvant, il déplia le journal du matin encore humide et se mit à lire. While he was drinking it he opened a morning journal still damp, and began to read.
Stépan Arkadiévitch recevait et lisait un journal libéral non d’opinions extrêmes mais de cette moyenne où se tient la majorité. Stepan Arkadyevitch subscribed to a liberal paper, and read it. It was not extreme in its views, but advocated those principles which the majority held. Bien que ni la science, ni l’art, ni la politique proprement dite ne l’intéressassent il avait une opinion arrêtée sur tous ces sujets : celle de la majorité et de son journal, et il n’en changeait qu’avec la majorité, ou, pour mieux dire il n’en changeait point, mais c’était les opinions elles-mêmes qui se modifiaient insensiblement en lui. And though he was not really interested in science or art or politics, he strongly adhered to such views on all these subjects as the majority, including his paper, advocated, and he changed them only when the majority changed them; or more correctly, he did not change them, but they themselves imperceptibly changed in him.